Labelling

[iwbus]

Am I missing something here? Why does my Tesco fresh thick strawberry flavoured milkshake have a bit on the label that says "Allergy advice:Contains milk"? Is that not blindingly obvious?

[CheekyChops]

The world has gone mad. There are packets of peanuts that say 'May contain nuts' - you don't say! And microwave meals that say 'Caution: May be hot once heated'.

I blame it on the compensation culture that is about these days - some idiot is bound to burn themselves on their microwave meal for one and then sue the maufacturers for not warning them that it could be hot!

[Jules001]

I bought some fish the other day and it said on the packet, "warning contains fish" - well good that's what I wanted!!!!!

[FelixtheDog]

Blame it on America and their culture of litigation that has spread around the world. Remember that woman who burned herself on a hot cup of coffee in a McDonalds drive-through in the US and successfully sued them for millions? As if a hot cup of coffee isnt going to be HOT!

Also remember that a lot of products these days do not contain what their name suggests they do. ie there is no actual licorice in "licorice" , no vanilla in a "vanilla slice" and no chicken in a bag of "chicken crisps"...its all just chemicals .

This sort of thing makes me very angry. We live in a chemically replicated world and its our own fault for believing the advertising and buying the cr ap products in the first place.

[Oneeyedvic]

The best example (probably an urban myth though) is "Warning - weraing this suit does not enable you to fly" on a Superman costume.

It was also the title of a book I read a few months ago which was just full of these types of ridiculous instructions / statements.

As felix mentions, Stella Liebeck won an amazing amount after successfully suing McDs - not quite as clear cut as people would like to think, but still ridiculous (imho)

[kazzianne]

I know this isnt food - but I bought a thong the other day and it said "remove before washing" !!!! Doh!!!

[willowman]

One of my "grumpy old men" hates are the pictures on packets of food that say "Serving suggestion"

Wow, put it on a plate, I really hadn't thought of that! What a brilliant idea. And put a bit of cheese on top of the cracker! Another radical idea! Wish I'd thought of that years ago and I woudn't have been eating dry crackers for all these years.

[heathfield]

Yeah, but, willowman, it's because people are basically thick. It's done to stop people complaining that while the picture on the can showed Tuna Chunks, or whatever, sitting on a bed of lettuce with a couple of slices of tomato, when they opened the can there was no lettuce and no tomato! This did happen!

[chongalolo]

A few months ago I posted a similar question about bananas....in Sainsburys the packaging on the bananas says "Great When Peeled". What a revelation! It has changed my life!

[dzug]

Remember there's no cream in (most) ice cream. I suspect some 'milk' shakes don't contain milk, just vegetable fat and water, so it's probably just about reasonable for them to be cautious.

[tash_1987]

its cos they cant risk being sued, cos some stupid person would try saying 'i had 2 go 2 hospital becuse it did not warn me it contained milk'.

Nuts also say 'contains nuts'... wel der!

[Catso]

Well, when you look at some of questions posed on AB, I could quite well see some people saying, quite honestly, "I didn't know a milkshake was made with milk".

I think you're overestimating the level of general knowledge/common sense in the population. The little quiz that comes after 'That'll Teach 'Em' on TV often reveals gems of ignorance equal to this.

[Hermia]

I bought salmon the other day and it had "Warning: contains fish" on the packet, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear there are people out there who don't know salmon is a fish...